Surah Al-Furqan 25:61-77 - Quran Translation Commentary

63. The true slaves⁹⁰ of Ar-Rahman (the Most Gracious) are those who walk on the earth humbly,⁹¹ and when the ignorant address them, they say:’Salaam”⁹² (Peace);

64. And who spend their night (in worship of their Lord) prostrating themselves and standing,⁹³

65. And who pray: “Our Lord: Keep away from us the punishment of the Hell, verily its punishment is inescapable:⁹⁴

66. Indeed it is a very evil abode, and a very evil resting-place!⁹⁵

67. And those who, when they spend, and neither prodigal nor grudging, but keep a balance between the two;⁹⁶

68. And those who, do not invoke any other⁹⁷ god along with Allah, nor take the life which Allah has made sacred except for a just cause,⁹⁸ nor commit adultery⁹⁹-and whoever commits them shall have to face the consequences of the sin.

69. The punishment will be doubled ¹⁰⁰ for him on the Day of Resurrection, and he will abide therein in disgrace.

70. Except him who repents and believes and does righteous work; as for such Allah will change their evil deeds to good deeds.¹⁰¹ Allah is ever forgiving, Merciful.¹⁰²

71. And whoever repents and performs good deeds, verily he returns to Allah with true repentance. ¹⁰³

72. And those who do not witness falsehood,¹⁰⁴ and when they pass by profane acts, they pass with dignity.¹⁰⁵

73. And those, when they are reminded of the revelations of their Lord, do not turn a blind eye and a deaf ear thereto.¹⁰⁶

74. And who pray: “Our Lord : Grant us comfort of eyes from our wives and our children,¹⁰⁷ and make us Imam (leaders) of those who fear Allah.¹⁰⁸

75. These will be rewarded with the highest places, ¹⁰⁹ because of their patience and there they will be greeted with words of welcome and peace,

76. Abiding there for ever. A blissful abode and resting-place.

77. Say; “My Lord cares not for you if you do not invoke ¹¹⁰ Him. Now you have denied (the Truth), punishment is bound to overtake you.”

Commentary

87. For explanation, please see Surah Hajr. Note No.14

88. That is: the sun

89. This system of the day following night regularly in a undisturbed schedule provides a lesson for thought, it is a thought provoking phenomenon. Any person who will give a thought to it will observe the perfect power and the signs of mercy of his Lord. This observation will provide for him a lesson of monotheism and will create in him feeling of gratitude, that his Lord is very kind, that He has created such a nice arrangement for providing comfort and peace for His slaves.

90. Means sincere slaves of Allah. On account of their attributes, which are mentioned hereafter, it has been their honour that they are called the slaves of the Most Gracious (Ibadur-Rahman), and they have become worthy of receiving the favours and blessings of the Bountiful Allah.

91. The style of walking of a man is the manifestation of his character. ‘Those who surrender themselves fully to Allah’s worship with full consciousness, their walk manifests their humility and meekness. As against this, those who have turned away from God, their walk manifests their arrogance and vanity.

Walking with humility does not mean to walk slowly with a view to showing off, but to raise the foot with a sense of obedience to God and to put it down with calmness and dignity.

The style of walking of the Prophet, Sallal Lahu Alaihi Wa Sallam, in the hadith is narrated as under:

“When he walked, he raised his foot with firmness, put it down in a bowing posture, walked with humility and with such speed as if going from a height to a lower level.” -(Shamail -Tirmizi).

92. By ignorant are meant foolish, non-sober and sentimental people. When such people may try to argue, there is no use engaging them in discussion. It is better to part with them, saying pacifying words. They say salaam means saying pacifying words or to utter the words ‘salaam’.

93. That is: the slaves of Rahman do not spend their nights like those persons who are negligent of God. During the night time also they used to busy themselves in offering prayer. Besides the salat of Maghrib (evening) and Isha (night), they also arrange to offer prayer of ‘tahajjud’. They do not sleep carelessly, but they get up in the night and stand and prostrate themselves before their Lord. It gives an idea as to how much liking they have for the prayer and Allah’s worship. But today generally the condition of the Muslims is that they spend their nights in watching films. At the time of tahajjud prayer (midnight or thereafter), which is the time for the acceptance of the slave’s pleadings and prayers, sounds of singing and dancing on the video sets blare out from the houses of Muslims.

‘Inna Lillahi Wa Inna Ilahi Raji’oon”.

94. ‘That is: the punishment of the Hell is not such as would offer any chance to anyone to escape from it, but it is such that whoever once comes in its contact, the punishment adheres to it permanently.

From this concept of the punishment in the Hell the slaves of Rahman shudder and they pray to God to save them from such a punishment.

In this ayah a model of the ideal slaves of God has been presented, which shows that the only worry that they have is that of the salvation in the Hereafter.

95. That is: The Hell is evil on both the counts. Evil as an abode, as there will be blazing fire, and as a permanent resting-place, because its denizens will be in constant receipt of horrible punishment.

96. Prodigality is wasteful spending, beyond one’s necessities, that is, to spend money for lawful ends, but without any restrictions and without caring how much is spent. Today there is such an attraction for raising the standard of living that people indulge in open wastefulness. As for spending for improper and unlawful things, and spending lavishly, it is the worst kind of prodigal expenditure and such unlawful extravagants have been termed as brothers of Satan (Surah Bani Israil, ayah No.27).

Grudging expenditure or stinginess is that man may spend in lawful and proper causes in a miserly way, or he may become careless in the matter of paying the dues of others. The golden mean between prodigality and stinginess is that man may avoid excessive spending and may fulfill his lawful necessities, and may spend for them in proper way, and may also pay dues of others.

It may be noted that inspite of good food being available, to avoid eating it merely to suppress the self is the method of those who formed a shariah of arduous exertions in the name of an ‘ism’. It has no relation with the simple way of living preached by Islam and its easy Shariah laws.

97. Invoking means invoking for helping one to meet one’s needs, and also worshipping. In the Qur’an the word ‘prayer’ (invoking) has been used to mean worship at many places, In the hadith it is stated that prayer is worship at many places. In the hadith it is stated that prayer is worship -(Mishkat-Kitabud dawat with reference to Ahmed, Tirmizi, Abu Dawood, Nasai, Ibn Majah).

In this ayah the attribute of Rahman’s slaves has been mentioned as: they invoke Allah only, they worship Him alone, their method of worship is not like those who worship others along with Allah, and invoke others also along with Allah. This is out and out polytheism, and the ways of Rahman’s slaves are completely free from any contamination of polytheism.

98. The basic teaching of Qur’an is that every human life is extremely respectable, so much so that even the life of a newly born baby is also equally respectable

(And when the female child, who was buried alive, will be asked for what sin she was killed. - Surah Takveer -8-9). And the respectability of the human life is so precious that any person maltreating it is guilty of committing a very serious crime. Killing is lawful only when it is for a just cause. This just cause has been clarified by the Shariah itself. Therefore, there is no justification for anybody to kill a person outside the circle drawn by the shariah. If the man-made laws or the orders of the non-Islamic government declare a killing just, which the Islamic Shariah declares unjustified, then such a killing is wrong and tantamounts to great sin. The Shariah has declared the following types of killings as lawful or justified:

1)To kill in qisas (retribution)

“Life for life.” (Maidah-45)

2) For spreading mischief in the world (Maidah 32.)

For example fighting the robbers or for stopping the spreading of mischief in the world. Under this principle, if in defending itself the Muslim group kills somebody in self- defence by fighting against the assaulting group.

3) Jihad in the cause of Allah against the disbelievers and the polytheists, with its conditions.

“So if they fight you, slay them. Such is the due punishment of the infidels.” ( -Baqarah -191.)

4) If a group or Muslims fights against another group, to fight against the one which is the aggressor till it submits to Allah’s command.

“ So fight against the aggressors, till they submit to Allah’s judgment.” -(Hujurat-9).

5) In the event of an attack from the aggressor, to fight for self-defence, even though the aggressor loses his life.

“Who when oppressed. seek to redress their wrongs. Let evil be rewarded with evil.-Ash- Shura 39-40)”.

In a hadith, it is stated

“A man came to the Prophet(S.A.W.)and asked:

‘O Messenger of Allah: What have you to say about a person who comes to me with the intention of snatching away my property? He said: ‘Do not give your property to him.’He asked: If he fights against me? He replied: ‘You also fight against him. He said: If he kills me.

The Prophet replied: ‘You will be a martyr.’ He asked: ‘If I kill him.’

He replied: ‘He will go to Hell.’

And protection of life has more importance than the protection of property and for a woman the protection of her modesty is also more important. Therefore, if for protection of life and property and honour, if it becomes inevitable to kill the aggressor, then the oppressed has the right to kill in self-defence.

6) To give punishment by killing those who rise in armed rebellion against Allah and His messenger. It is applicable in the case of that armed revolt which is engineered to overthrow an Islamic government and for installing in its place a non-Islamic government.

“The punishment for those, who wage war against Allah, His messenger, and go about to spread mischief in the land is only that they should be killed...” -.(Maidah-33).

7) To kill by stoning married adulterer and adulteress, This command is proved to be authentic by the authentic ahadith.

“The killing of a Muslim who testifies that there is no God, except Allah and that I am Allah’s messenger, is not lawful, except in any of these three cases: he has murdered somebody, or has committed an illegal sex act even though he/ she was married, or has abandoned the religion, i.e. has become apostate.”

-(Bukhari -Kitabud diyat).

8) To kill a person if he commits apostasy. as stated in the above quoted hadith.

It may be noted that among these, various cases are such that for enforcing them the need of an Imam, i.e the Islamic state is fell, for in these cases the accused has to be given a chance to defend himself or herself, and the judgment is to be given on the basis of the evidence produced:

“The jurists are unanimous on the point that the ruler or his deputy should enforce the ‘limit’ (penalty), and the individuals have no authority to do this work on their own.”

-(fiqhus Sunnah As-Sayed Sabiq Vol.2,p.362)

99. For the explanatory note on the unlawfulness of the illegal sex, please see Surah Bani Israil, Note No.41.

100. That is: One punishment for disbelief and polytheism, and the second punishment for crimes like killing and illegal sex. It has become clear that the disbelievers and the polytheists will be punished for rebellion, which will be extremely painful and everlasting. Besides there will be addition in their punishment on account of their crimes which they had committed, and the punishment will be according to the nature of their crimes.

101. In this there is a promise of comfort for those who lived as polytheists, and who had been guilty of committing crime like illegal sex and murders, but on Truth being made clear to them they returned to Allah and were sorry for their past sins, accepted faith and thereafter lived a righteous life. For such people there is Allah’s promise that He will change their evil acts by righteous acts, i.e.; they will be guided to act in a virtuous way instead of committing sins. Accordingly those persons whose life had been full of sins during the period of pre-Islamic days, after their embracing Islam their life became purified and virtuous. The main thing is the sense of sin. When this sense is developed in a man’s heartwhen a man realises what is sin-then a very pleasant change starts taking place in his thought and deeds.

102. That is: These slaves of Allah should hope that Allah will forgive their past sins and will show mercy to them, for He is Most Forgiving and Most Gracious

103. In this ayah the reality of repentance is narrated. It is not repentance that after repenting man should go on committing sins as in the past, and should only be saying “I repent” merely with his tongue, but repentance means that man should avoid committing sin and should act righteously, Any person who repents fulfilling such requirements before Allah, such a person in reality returns to Allah, and how is it that Allah will not take him under His shelter of mercy when he returns to Him.

104. The word ‘Zoor’ used here means lie or falsehood, and the sentence here means not giving a witness or not witnessing. Although the sentence carries both the meanings, but the following sentence fixes the meaning as not to be a witness, observer, of false things. It means that the slaves of Rahman have such a dislike of falsehood that they do not lend their support to the false things by being their observers, nor do they prove themselves to be shameless by being observers of falsehood.

After this principle of guidance it is not proper for Muslims to go for sight seeing at temples and centres of polytheistic practices, to be present at the ceremonies of pooja and rituals, to take part in bhoomi pooja, and to lend glitter by their presence.

Allama Ibn Taimiyah writes:

“Umar (R) says to avoid Allah’s enemies at the time of their festivals. And Imam Ahmed says that it is not lawful to participate in the festivals of Jews and Christians. His argument is based on this ayah No. 72.Surah Al- Furqan.”

-(Majmua Fatawa Ibn Taimiyah. Vol.25, page.326).

105. That is: If they happen to pass by a senseless act or play, they neither take any interest in it nor do they become its witness or observer, but pass on like gentlemen and in a dignified way, in the same way as a cleanliness- loving man passes by a pile of dirt and filth and does not even cast a glance at the pile.

In the present day senseless and absurd things are appearing before the world in the garb of modern civilisation in such abundance that it is difficult for a man to pass through a street peacefully. But those whose conscience is awake, they do not lose their seriousness and dignity at any cost.

106. The are not like those who are so insensitive that if they are advised with the help of Allah’s revelations, arguments from His book, and its teachings, they remain unmoved, their ears become deaf for hearing the truth, and their eyes become blind for seeing the truth. As against this, when the slave of Rahman are invited to pay attention to Allah’s revelations, they hear the admonitions with open ears and see Allah’s signs with wide open eyes.

107. The slaves of Rahman are not careless about their wives and children, that they may either go to Paradise or to Hell, but they worry about their guidance and they desire it from the bottom of their hearts that they should lead a life of faith and righteousness. For them the righteousness of their wives and children is a thing of comfort and satisfaction rather than their being rich and well equipped with provisions of comfort. In other words the standard of choice of these slaves of Allah is right. Therefore, if their wives and children develop good moral character, then they become the light of their eyes’ and ‘the pleasure of their hearts.’ For this reason they pray to God for His guidance for them.

108. That is: The position of leadership or guardianship, which we enjoy over our family people, under its influence they should get the right religious instruction and training and the attribute of fear of God may be developed in them. In other words our leadership may be the leadership of ‘taqwa’, and our followers may become God-fearing people.

This gives an idea as to how the idea of making their wives and children God-fearing always stirs in the hearts of the sincere slaves of Allah. But the condition of the present day Muslims is such that even their own lives are devoid of the quality of ‘taqwa’ and they also have no interest if their children become Godfearing or otherwise. Actually they want their children to become someone who may be well appreciated in the world, whether god or not. As for the Hereafter, the kalimah-saying people need not worry about that.

109. The particulars of the high dwelling places in the Paradise will be known only after going there, but from this wording of the Qur’an a concept is definitely formed in our minds about them that in the Paradise there will be high palaces.

These high palaces in Paradise will be given to the slaves of Rahman in reward for their patience and steadfastness. From this the importance of patience becomes clear that it is a base for all the qualities that have been stated above. That is these attributes develop only when a man becomes serious and sober instead of being emotional and sentimental, and if he keeps his sight on the objective of Truth.

110. This is the end of the Surah, in which the address turns to the deniers. They are being told that if they are not prepared to accept Allah as the fulfiller of their needs, and to invoke Him as such and worship Him, then He will not be the loser, nor does He care for them. He has placed the reality before them. If after this they want to invite their own doom, they are themselves responsible for this.